American composer Joan Tower has an observation: There are no similarities between her or her music and that of 20th century German composer Paul Hindemith.
But she certainly doesn’t mind sharing billing with the expressionist composer on Tucson’s Music + Festival 2017 this weekend, the 10th annual event curated by University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music Professor Daniel Asia.
“It’s very ambitious. He’s doing a lot of pieces,” Tower said of the festival, which focuses on the music of Tower, Hindemith and Duke Ellington. “It’s very exciting, especially at my age.”
The 79-year-old Tower, who teaches music at Bard College in New York, will be in the audience when UA students and faculty musicians play a half dozen of her works over three concerts Saturday, Oct. 7, and Sunday, Oct. 8. A matinee concert on Sunday spotlights 20th century American jazz composer Duke Ellington.
Tower praised Asia’s selections, most of them her older works.
“He picked a lot of strong pieces, which I’m pleased to hear,” Tower said last week from her New York home.
“I try and come up with pairings and matches of composers that I think are really going to be dynamic and exciting,” Asia said, then outlined the commonalities between Hindemith and Tower, most of it centered on how each composer is able to richly express their cultures through their music.
But as he’s done in past festivals, Asia is more focused on giving music lovers of all ages an experience they won’t find anywhere else in Tucson. In addition to the concerts, the festival features a symposium with Tower and the screening of the 1961 Sidney Poitier-Paul Newman film “Paris Blues,” whose soundtrack was composed by Ellington.
“You get saturated and immersed in these composers and come out with an experience you just can’t get by just going to a concert,” he said. “And I think it’s a very cool thing that we have been able to do it.”
This will be Tower’s first Tucson visit in a dozen years. She was here in 2005 to conduct the Civic Orchestra of Tucson when it premiered her piece “Made in America.” The work went on to snag the 2008 Grammy for best contemporary classical composition.
Being in the audience as her music is played never gets old, she said, especially in the hands of young artists.
One of the highlights of the festival for Tower will come at the end of Saturday’s afternoon concert when the musicians perform her piece “Power Dance.”
“That should be interesting,” she said. “That’s a fairly recent piece that was premiered in Houston. I haven’t heard that enough so I’m very curious to hear how that sounds.”
She’s also thrilled Asia programmed her 2003 percussion work “DNA.”
“That’s my favorite piece,” she said. “It’s five percussionists and I love percussion. I grew up in South America and I played percussion. I just love percussion and I really wanted to write a good piece. I’m very proud of that piece.”
Asia already is looking ahead to next year’s festival, which will feature his own works.
“I figured after 10 years it’s OK if I’m a little deferential and feature my own music,” he said.
